1st April
31st March
There endeth another month, blown out - perhaps rather fittingly bearing in mind how this March has played out - by a 60mph gale and mountainous swells offshore. The only reports were of storm-blown seabirds: 16 Sandwich Terns, 12 Kittiwakes and 3 Little Gulls through Ferrybridge, 22 Fulmars, 4 Manx Shearwaters, 3 Red-throated Divers and a Sandwich Tern through off the Bill and a handful of grounded Lesser Black-backed Gulls everywhere. With no grounded passerine migrants at all reported from the Bill there was no last minute fillip to some pretty dreadful month totals; as an example, our average March ringing totals during the last five years for Blackcap, Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff have been 60, 21 and 240 respectively, this month's totals for those three species are 6, 5 and 98.
Two of the Little Gulls and a Sandwich Tern at Ferrybridge this morning © Pete Saunders:
30th March
29th March
Every cloud has a silver lining and today it was the manufacturers of trench foot remedies that will have done well out of our misfortune in having to endure most variations of dampness known to meteorology. However, in between the all-enveloping fog that begun the day and the chucking rain that ended it there were enough spells of amelioration that migrants were uncovered, even if none featured in numbers. Firecrests included at least 6 scattered about the Bill and Southwell, a new Black Redstart showed up at the Bill and, as it often does, the rain also dropped wader newcomers in the form of 2 Sanderling, a Little Ringed Plover and a Grey Plover at Ferrybridge; commoner fare even included the odd passing Swallow. A total of 16 Red-throated Divers was a worthwhile return from a sea that was barely visible for long periods.
Singles of Rusty-dot Pearl and Dark Sword Grass made up the overnight migrant tally from the Obs moth-traps.
The new Black Redstart at the Bill © Clare Harrison:
28th March
We start with the sad news of the passing of two of the very last links with the 'pre-Old Lower Lighthouse' era of Portland birding. Barry Mathews and David Godfrey, who both died last week, were two of the true pioneer Portland birders who'd been active right back into the 1950s when the potential of the island as a migration watchpoint was first being explored. Once the Obs as we know it today had been established and formerly recognised as an accredited bird observatory, both Barry and David served long and distinguished terms as committee members and trustees. Our sincere condolences go out to the families and friends of both Barry and David.
Damp and increasingly turbulent conditions saw the sea get most of the attention today. The rewards weren't exactly fulsome but the feeling was certainly of up-Channel passage gathering a bit of momentum, with 76 Common Scoter, 8 Red-throated Divers, 2 Arctic Skuas and singles of Little Egret, Teal and Caspian Gull through off the Bill and 6 Pintail and 2 different Arctic Skuas through off Chesil. The land did get some attention before the worst of the weather blew in, with 30 Chiffchaffs and several Wheatears and Goldcrests new at the Bill where at least 2 Firecrests lingered on.
Today's small movement of Common Scoter was hopefully the harbinger of things to come in the next few weeks. What we're guessing won't be featuring in this years Channel dash are Great Skuas: time-wise and weather-wise, today looked ideal for a pulse of Bonxies yet not a single one was logged which, taken together with their terrible showing last autumn and complete absence through the winter, suggests that avian flu really has ravaged their population © Martin Cade:
Yes, it is a Casp. no probs. I didn't have my glasses on at the Bill so could not see the camera very well. All features check. It is not the whitest headed individual for March but perfectly OK. pic.twitter.com/PcODnAmGim
— Keith Pritchard (@portlandbirder) March 28, 2023
27th March
Short Eared Owl on Portland today. @PortlandBirdObs @Natures_Voice @DorsetWildlife pic.twitter.com/0g2RgUrcQi
— Marc granville (@Grundig66) March 27, 2023
26th March
25th March
24th March
23rd March
22nd March
21st March
20th March
Wot, still no Alpine Swift? - although fieldwork was severely curtailed by some pretty grim damp and dreary conditions there was still a fair bit of legwork put in traipsing around many a suitable swift location but all to no avail. What was in evidence included a nice little arrival of Firecrests - at least 8 scattered between the Obs and Reap Lane - amongst a good drop of Chiffchaffs. Rather oddly, other grounded migrants looked to be poorly represented with no more than a single figure total of Wheatears at the Bill, where 2 Fieldfares were of minor note; elsewhere, a Black Redstart was at Weston. In some of the few periods of better visibility 2 Red-throated Divers passed through off the Bill.
With flying insects at a premium, many of the Chiffchaffs were reduced to scratching about on the ground for sustenance © Nick Stantiford:
19th March
18th March
17th March
Blackcap - another on cue first for the year at the Obs pic.twitter.com/LFrC9himcJ
— Portland Bird Observatory (@PortlandBirdObs) March 17, 2023
Dark Sword Grass from the Obs moth-traps overnight pic.twitter.com/Sk1A0jo3YZ
— Portland Bird Observatory (@PortlandBirdObs) March 17, 2023
It's been a slow start on the ringing front so far this spring but seems finally to be getting going with the first double figure catch of the season today - daily totals as usual at:https://t.co/yhLxoQfYi8 pic.twitter.com/xVUpzmOiZr
— Portland Bird Observatory (@PortlandBirdObs) March 17, 2023
16th March
Afternoon walk round @PortlandBirdObs and Portland Bill With @libbyamac plenty to see, including a Peregrine fly over, lots of returning Wheatears, Black Redstart and the Little Owls in the Obs quarry. pic.twitter.com/D2tWiUuCTG
— Nicolas (@NicEcology) March 16, 2023
Turns out this is a bird from Lundy, Graham - many thanks for posting the photo and thanks also to Tony Taylor for his quick reply with the ringing details: pic.twitter.com/lEw7QsDgA3
— Portland Bird Observatory (@PortlandBirdObs) March 16, 2023
15th March
Portland Bird Obs this Sun 19th March @PortlandBirdObs is the venue for our Optics field day @opticronuk @SwarovskiOptik @hawkeoptics @VortexOpticsUK first Wheatear has arrived @DorsetWildlife @DorsetBirdClub 01225 891352 pic.twitter.com/d5xFIMnSSc
— In Focus Cotswold (@infocus_Swest) March 15, 2023
a few random snaps from around the bill this morning pic.twitter.com/2W11AkT0A9
— andy (@andy33082645) March 15, 2023
Not a bad migrant tally at the Bill so far today: c50 Wheatears, 3 CCs, 2 Fcrests, singles Sand Martin & Brambling + trickle of pipits & albas in off. pic.twitter.com/CPTSxjmQvP
— Portland Bird Observatory (@PortlandBirdObs) March 15, 2023
14th March
13th March
12th March
The first new migrant male Firecrest of the spring at PBO @PortlandBirdObs .Hopefully the first of many after such a poor year in 2022 when only 9 were ringed. A visit for the Trustees meeting can have its benefits! Will not be long until Rosie and I return. pic.twitter.com/Zglda5ClvA
— Peter J Morgan (@PBOprof) March 12, 2023
11th March
10th March
9th March
Not before time, the first Chiffchaff of the season at the Obs pic.twitter.com/zfjZh62BNt
— Portland Bird Observatory (@PortlandBirdObs) March 9, 2023
8th March
7th March
6th March
5th March
4th March
Digiscoped shot of the Hooded x Carrion Crow hybrid at Portland today @BirdGuides pic.twitter.com/b9skefBcG1
— HighbridgeBirder 🦆🦉🦅 (@HighbridgePaul) March 4, 2023
3rd March
2nd March
1st March
28th February
27th February
Just a handful of winterers making up today's dismal return: 40 Common Scoter settled off the Bill and singles of Black Redstart and Chiffchaff still about on the land.
26th February
25th February
A beautiful day yesterday spent in nature, watching my favourite Little Owls🦉💓🦉#littleowl #athenenoctua #Owl #owls #iloveowls #strigidae #birdwatching #nikon #nikonphotography #BBCWildlifePOTD #bbccountryfilemagpotd pic.twitter.com/jAi00PxQzN
— Verity Pixie Hill (@verityhill5) February 25, 2023
24th February
This afternoon at Pennsylvania Castle Woods was this Firecrest. (Video is at normal speed, then slow-motion)@PortlandBirdObs @DorsetBirdClub @BTO_Dorset pic.twitter.com/NPycqAIXMJ
— Port and Wey (@PortandWey) February 24, 2023
23rd February
22nd February
21st February
20th February
Not the easiest day for looking with misty low cloud more or less throughout and occasional mizzle blowing in the breeze, but there were a few new Stonechats in evidence today which was very welcome. Otherwise there were just a few regulars about, including 2 Black Redstarts at the Bill and 9 Black-necked Grebes and an Eider in Portland Harbour.
What with war, contagion, Tory corruption and similar concerns it's not that we haven't had other things to dwell on over the last couple of years but one matter that had occasionally nagged was pondering on just what that Lesser Whitethroat in June 2019 was. As a reminder, this was part of the blog post for 4th June of that year:
How do you identify a Siberian Lesser Whitethroat
in the spring/summer? We'd been immediately struck in the field by how
brown-backed today's new arrival at the Obs had looked and made a bit of effort
to cajole it into a net to get a better understanding of its features © Nick
Hopper...
...it did indeed turn out to be appreciably
sandy-brown on the upperparts and had what seemed to be a rather poorly defined
mask. The tail possessed a peculiar mixture of old and new feathers that could
be taken to suggest that the bird was a first-summer although we weren't completely convinced that the old feathers were actually juvenile © Martin Cade:
Anyway, back to the present and now we have an answer - thanks as ever to Professor Martin Collinson and his team at the University of Aberdeen who were clearing a backlog of older samples and recently got round to our dislodged feather from this bird - that it was a blythi Siberian Lesser Whitethroat. Martin informs us that this is only his lab's third genetically confirmed spring blythi - the other two were both from Bardsey Bird Observatory, the first in 2016 and the other just last year in May 2022. Here's another in-hand photo, together with a selection from the few times it afforded any sort of views in the field. It was singing pretty constantly but annoyingly/ineptly we can't at the moment lay our hands on the recordings that seem to have vanished into the bowels of one or other external hard-drive in our office © Martin Cade: